Oldest Applied Geometry Engraving Discovered on 3,700-year-old Babylonian Tablet

Si.427 is a hand tablet from 1900-1600 BC, created by an Old Babylonian surveyor. (UNSW Sydney)
Si.427 is a hand tablet from 1900-1600 BC, created by an Old Babylonian surveyor. (UNSW Sydney)
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Oldest Applied Geometry Engraving Discovered on 3,700-year-old Babylonian Tablet

Si.427 is a hand tablet from 1900-1600 BC, created by an Old Babylonian surveyor. (UNSW Sydney)
Si.427 is a hand tablet from 1900-1600 BC, created by an Old Babylonian surveyor. (UNSW Sydney)

An Australian mathematician has discovered what may be the oldest known example of applied geometry, on a 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet. Known as Si.427, the tablet bears a field plan measuring the boundaries of some land, according to The Guardian.

The tablet dates from the Old Babylonian period between 1900 and 1600 BCE and was discovered in the late 19th century in what is now Iraq. It had been housed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum before Dr. Daniel Mansfield from the University of New South Wales tracked it down.

Mansfield and Norman Wildberger, an associate professor at University of New South Wales, had previously identified another Babylonian tablet as containing the world’s oldest and most accurate trigonometric table. At the time, they speculated the tablet was likely to have had some practical use, possibly in surveying or construction.

That tablet, Plimpton 322, described right-angle triangles using Pythagorean triples: three whole numbers in which the sum of the squares of the first two equals the square of the third – for example, 32 + 42 = 52.

“You don’t just accidentally come up with trigonometry, you’re usually doing something practical,” Mansfield said. Plimpton 322 set him on a quest to find other tablets from the same period that contained Pythagorean triples, eventually leading him to Si.427.

“Si.427 is about a piece of land that’s being sold,” Mansfield said. In the cuneiform script, with its characteristic wedge-shaped indentations, the tablet describes a field containing marshy areas, as well as a threshing floor and nearby tower.

The rectangles depicting the field have opposite sides of equal length, suggesting surveyors of that time period had devised a way to create perpendicular lines more accurately than before, according to Mansfield.

“Much like we would today, you’ve got private individuals trying to figure out where their land boundaries are, and the surveyor comes out but instead of using a piece of GPS equipment, they use Pythagorean triples,” he explained.



KAUST Develops Robotic System to Improve Date Palm Harvesting

The robotic arms of the system will be able to move as quickly as a human farmer while precisely picking each date without damage to itself or the fruit - SPA
The robotic arms of the system will be able to move as quickly as a human farmer while precisely picking each date without damage to itself or the fruit - SPA
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KAUST Develops Robotic System to Improve Date Palm Harvesting

The robotic arms of the system will be able to move as quickly as a human farmer while precisely picking each date without damage to itself or the fruit - SPA
The robotic arms of the system will be able to move as quickly as a human farmer while precisely picking each date without damage to itself or the fruit - SPA

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has been developing a new robotic system designed to automate date palm harvesting, SPA reported.
According to a KAUST press release, the system aims to revolutionize the agriculture industry and establish Saudi Arabia as a leader in agriculture innovation. The research, led by KAUST Assistant Professor Shinkyu Park, focuses on automating key processes in date farming, such as harvesting, pollination, and tree maintenance through AI-powered robotics, and promises to yield larger quantities of more nutritious dates.
Park's "robotic farmers" solution combines robotics for reliable farming and AI for greater efficiency. The robotic arms of the system will be able to move as quickly as a human farmer while precisely picking each date without damage to itself or the fruit. Equipped with high-precision visual sensors, the robotic farmers can identify individual dates, flowers, and tree structures to perform tasks such as harvesting, spraying, and pruning, ensuring tree health, productivity, and longevity while reducing the risk of pest infestations and diseases.
Field trials are scheduled to begin during the 2025 harvest season, with full operational capability expected within three years. Park suggested that a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model could allow smaller farmers to access the technology without the burden of purchasing the robots outright.
The project is one of many at KAUST that will benefit date farming and food security. Such projects provide Saudi Arabia an advantage not only in agricultural technology but also in agricultural expertise, as leaders in farming and robotics are drawn to the region, while laborers will be the first to engage with the new technologies developed by Park and his team, according to the release.
"I am excited that this initiative extends beyond engineering solutions and cultivates research and development opportunities for local talent, contributing to the long-term sustainable educational and economic growth of the Kingdom," he said.